Newcastle United Complete Cruise Into UEFA Champions League Last 16; Bayer Leverkusen Also Through

Newcastle United completed their stroll into the Champions League last 16 with a 3-2 win over Qarabag on Tuesday to progress 9-3 on aggregate over the Azeri champions. The Magpies will make up a six-strong contingent of English sides in the last 16 alongside Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham. A tie that involved an over 5,000-mile (8,000 kilometre) round trip for both sides was killed off inside 45 minutes last week as Newcastle led 5-0 at half-time on their way to a 6-1 rout. That allowed Eddie Howe to heavily rotate his side, with four-goal hero from the first leg Anthony Gordon among those left on the bench.

But he was still disappointed with how Newcastle handled the second half after another fast start as they added to their lead twice inside the opening six minutes of the match.

Sandro Tonali fired in the rebound after Dan Burn's shot was saved, before Joelinton stroked in Harvey Barnes' cross.

"I think if you look at the score over the two legs it's been fantastic from the players even though today feels like a bit of a hollow win for us," said Howe.

"I thought at 2-0 we probably came off the pedal. We didn't intend to do that but it was sort of the natural reaction.

"In the second half the game became end-to-end which, for us, was a real shame. For one, we expended too much energy, and it meant we didn't put pressure on their goal."

Qarabag had taken the scalps of Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt in the league phase to make the play-off round and at least salvaged some pride with two goals in the second period.

Camilo Duran outpaced Burn to pull a goal back before the Newcastle defender was penalised for handball inside the box.

Aaron Ramsdale saved Marko Jankovic's penalty but Elvin Jafarguliyev netted the rebound.

In between the visitors' two goals, Sven Botman powered in a header from a corner.

That took the tally of goals conceded by Qarabag in the Champions League to 30 -- a single season record in the competition.

A much tougher test lies ahead of Newcastle next month when they will take on either Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16.

Leverkusen through after Olympiacos draw

Bayer Leverkusen are through to the last 16 of the Champions League after a scoreless home draw with Olympiacos on Tuesday, winning their play-off round tie 2-0 on aggregate. 

Leverkusen were below their best but did just enough to qualify after last week's comfortable first-leg win in Greece. 

It was the first time Leverkusen made it through a two-legged Champions League knockout tie since they reached the final in 2002, when they lost 2-1 to Real Madrid. 

The 2024 German double winners will face either Premier League leaders Arsenal or German champions Bayern Munich, who eliminated Leverkusen at the last 16 stage last season. 

"The game didn't go at all like we'd imagined. Too sluggish -- really the only positive is that we kept a clean sheet and we're through to the next round," a frustrated Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich told Amazon Prime. 

"We needed more speed, more bite, both against the ball and with it -- thankfully the opponent didn't punish us."

Echoing his captain, Leverkusen midfielder Jonas Hofmann said coach Kasper Hjulmand "will probably go home and drink a beer out of frustration to wash down that performance. There's nobody here who can be satisfied with that".

Leverkusen had not conceded at home in any competition since early January and were rarely troubled by the energetic but toothless Greek champions. 

Olympiacos rested six starters in their Greek Super League match on Saturday in the hopes of reaching the Champions League last 16 for the first time since 2013-14, when they were narrowly eliminated by Manchester United. 

Seeking to give his troops a little extra motivation, billionaire Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis -- who also owns Nottingham Forest -- promised an "unprecedented" financial bonus for reaching the last 16. 

Patrik Schick scored twice in three minutes in last week's opening leg and the Czech striker was in the thick of things early on, heading just wide and dragging a lob over goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis but past the far post inside six minutes.

After that early flurry, Leverkusen were content to sit back as the match wore on, forcing the visitors to try and create something. 

Leverkusen's best chance of the match came midway through the second half when Alejandro Grimaldo blasted a shot against the crossbar with Tzolakis beaten. 

Right-back Lucas Vazquez, a Champions League winner with Real Madrid, limped off late in the second half in the only black mark for the hosts. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Topics mentioned in this article

Newcastle United FK Qarabag Bayer Leverkusen Olympiacos UEFA Champions League Football